


Interlude - Behind the mask

by Warflower



Series: Cain´s modern murder mysteries [12]
Category: Cain Saga and Godchild
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Cassian POV, Cats, Gen, Mention of Corpses/Gore/human expirementation and Cassandra Gladstone, possibly more gore-y than my usual
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-17
Updated: 2017-10-17
Packaged: 2019-01-18 15:43:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,873
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12391167
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Warflower/pseuds/Warflower
Summary: There´s more to Jizabel than meets the eye.This, Cassian slowly comes to understand.





	Interlude - Behind the mask

**Author's Note:**

> This one is not paticularly plot-heavy. Enjoy anyways.

Cassian stared at the face of the starving orphan of the cover of the "Amnesty International" he had left lying around. It was easier than looking at the face of their current corpse. 

That the boy, whose body Zenopia and him were currently dismantling, had been one of Cassandra´s Cassian didn´t want to know. It was better to delude himself into thinking he had not needed to suffer too much. 

As it were the starving orphan had probably had a kinder fate. 

He had lost the magazine on purpose, hell he had bought it with the intention of ´losing´ it. 

A couple of days ago, while cleaning, Cassian had found a current edition of "The Arkangel", an animal rights magazine. Concluding it was propably Zenopia´s he had ´dropped´ an unread copy of the "Amnesty" for the old man, hoping that it would be appreciated.

It had not been appreciated. The picture of the starving orphan had been pinned to the wall by the forehead. With a scalpel. 

From this Cassian concluded one thing: The Arkangel had not belonged to Zenopia at all, it belonged to Jizabel, who was, now, pissed.

That the doctor cared about animal rights was a surprise, he had after all claimed that he had studied veterinary medicine with the explicit purpose of learning how to properly slaughter animals and humans alike. 

But then again, Jizabel was full of surprises. 

 

He had not dared to tell the doctor that he had run into Cain, his younger brother, Jizabel probably knew anyway. 

-Erm...- Cassian began. 

Zenopia looked up from where he had been seperating the joints of the boys legs. -What is it?-

-I have a question- Cassian readjusted his grip on the body´s calf.

Zenopia smiled, how he could smile over the corpse of a child Cassian did not know, it was a step in disassociating from their work, that Cassian had not quite reached, propably it came right behind making smalltalk. -Ask away.-

-I´ve been thinking,- Cassian said -About the doctors brother, Cain.-

-What about him?- Zenopia asked, unpertubed by the crunch of bones being broken.

-I´m not the most invested in the Bible and all that, but, shouldn´t Cain be the older brother?- Cassian had gotten quite the surprise when met Cain Hargreaves. He had been sent out for a standart job, guarding a person of interest, but found himself face to face with Jizabels mysterious half-brother. 

Cassian had not known what he expected, he had not expected a teenager. 

Zenopia chuckled -He probably should, but even though, the story fits surprisingly well.-

-How so?- Cassian questioned. 

-You see- the old man had switched to the other leg -Our doctor is born out of wedlock, and while the same is true for his brother, he was passed off as true-born, and is thereby considered the heir. -

-Like the biblical Cain- Cassian stated.

-Indeed, and just like the biblical Abel, our good doctor is kept closer to god, an apparent favourite, and yet in the end, expendable.- 

-But Abel wasn´t expendable, was he? Cain was cursed for killing him.-

-He was cast out and cursed, yes, but he was not killed in retribution, nor was he prevented from killing his brother at all. If Abel was truly the favourite, why wasn´t his killer punished sevenfold, like those were, that came to harm Cain. No, Abel was expendable all along.- 

Cassian frowned, -So you think Jizabel is expendable to the Cardmaster.-

-I do, indeed.- Zenopia agreed, and added -And isn´t it funny how the Cardmaster fits into the simile.-

-Well,- Cassian smirked and then stopped, realizing that he was still leaning over a corpse -he does like to play god. If his urging to improve on the artificial heart is anything to go by.-

-It needs to regenerate on its own- Zenopia nodded. -The first one went well, for a trial run, but we should really test another one, soon.- 

Cassian had to, reluctantly, agree-Hopefully the next implantee will refrain from running off, not that I can blame her.-

 

He had not disliked their first specimen, a teenage girl called Meredianna, who had been provided for them by one of the Cardmasters old aquaintances. Of course she had not agreed to the experimentation and thus most of what happened had to be hidden from her, to keep her from panicking, but they managed to create and implant an artificial heart, urging the skin to regenerate faster, to avoid scarring was a mean feat in comparison. 

But while Cassian considered her presence a breeze of fresh air that their little morgue occasionally needed, Jizabel seemed to disagree. 

The doctor distrusted her from the start, declaring they should not let her out again after the heart had been implanted, but Zenopia had insisted that in the controlled space of the laboratory there was no way to tell how the implant would react to ordinary things like exitement, or walking. 

In the end Jizabel had been proven right, the poor girl had skipped on her mandatory injections to run off with Cain Hargreaves of all people, and died not half a day later. 

It was a pity, really.

 

Zenopia had meanwhile started to cut the tendons out of the flesh, asking Cassian to cut it into neat little cubes. 

The reason for this Cassian did not know, it was their usual way of splitting their work. Cassian disposed of the skeleton, Jizabel came to pick up the meat. 

And the organs, always the organs. 

At least this was the first of Cassandra´s victims since the double. 

Zenopia had warned him, but the experience still came as a shock. 

The young man had still been alive when Zoe dragged him in by his feet, long ash blond hair dragging along behind them. 

He was only partly dressed and not the parts that Cassian would have preferred, all over he was covered in bruises, bite marks among them to make it obvious to even the most casual of observers, just what had happened to him, all except for his face which was unmarked except for the ruddy tear tracks streaking his cheeks under red rimmed eyes and lips that were bitten bloody, he had probably once been angelic. 

-Here- Zoe had said when they dropped his legs on the floor, he tried to pull them up to his chest but gave up half-way. He did not move after that -A present from Lord Gladstone.-

Most of Cassandra´s victims his assistent Zoe carried on their back, but this one was taller then them, and probably a little too heavy. 

Cassian was still uncertain if Zoe was trans or simply enjoyed cross-dressing, maybe he should just ask them, as both possibilities were distincly possible, Delilah seemed to collect those on the margins of society.

Unfortunately it had also collected Cassandra, Cassian thought as he watched the doctor pale-faced and frozen still in the corner. His unfortunate replacement had not yet taken note of his presence. 

Said replacement let out a whimper, a lonely pair of tears ran over his cheekbones, he seemed to realize the nature of his surroundings. 

Zenopia prepared the syringe. 

He kneeled down on the dirty floor of the morgue -It´s okay, it´s over. You don´t have to fight anymore.- The old man said inserting the colourless liquid into the broken mans arm. 

The man turned to face him and instead glipsed Jizabel in the corner, his drooping eyes went wide and he started to struggle. 

Zenopia had not managed to remove the syringe in time and the needle snapped. Anguished sounds escaped the shaking man. 

Cassian grabbed his arms to pin him down, pushing the needle deeper into his flesh. The damage wouln´t matter, Cassian knew, the fatal dose had already been administered.

Eventually his blue eyes unfocused and he went limp in Cassians hold.

-Put him on the table.- The doctor had said and wordlessly Cassian had complied. 

He examined the Doctor as he approached, his expression unreadable. 

Almost reverent be bent over the table, stroking the hair of his euthanized mirror image, tilting his face for closer inspection. 

Only then Cassian saw the scalpel.

Doctor Jizabel Disraeli was many things, thorough was certainly among them. This Cassian learned as he watch the doctor plunging his scalpel into the face of his double, so like his own and tearing it apart muscle by muscle until there was no resemblance left , there was nothing but a bloody ruin. 

At last he grabbed one of Cassian´s knives that he had forgotten on a tray behind him and hacked off the corpses long hair.

When he was satisfied he handed Cassian back his knife. He was covered in blood and breathing heavily. He left without a word.

 

Cassian looked down at what not long ago had been a pair of legs. He grabbed a plastic bag and filled it with chunks of meat, carefull not to spill too much blood onto the floor. 

He heard a door opening behind him and looked up to see the doctor. 

Jizabel was not wearing his usual lab-coat, instead he was wrapped up in a grey scarf and a trench-coat of dubious warmth, apparently he intended to go out. 

He waited patiently for Cassian to hand him a bag of meat chunks before he said his goodbyes to Zenopia and left, without agnoledging him any more then neccessary. 

When he turned back to Zenopia, the old man was mustering the magazine that had been pinned to the wall. 

-Would you like to take the rest of the day off?- Zenopia asked. There was a glimmer in his eyes that Cassian mistrusted. -I´ll take care of the rest,- he promised -don´t worry.-

Before long Cassian was hurrying through underground hallways, following the small smears of blood the leaky plastic bag left on the floor. 

Jizabel exited in the docklands near the River Thames, navigating small alleyways with ease, Cassian who had caught up with him by now moved from shadow to shadow, to avoid being seen. 

He knew that spying on your co-workers was not usually a good idea, especially if those co-workers were scalpel-wielding maniacs, but there was something about Jizabel, something he had to know.

The doctor had stopped moving, there was a cat on the other side of the alley, they were eyeing each other. 

Cassian mentally prepared himself for the inevitable flash of silver that would end the life of the cat, but it never came. 

Instead Jizabel sunk down to his knees and fished a chunk of meat from the plastic bag, offering it to the cat. 

The stray, for that was what the cat must be slunk over to him and ate the meat from his hand.

Something brushed Cassians ankle and when he looked down there was another cat, making it´s way to the food Jizabel provided. And it wasn´t the only one.

Soon over a dozen of cats were gathered around Jizabel, purring and playing and gorging themselves on human flesh. 

And maybe, just maybe as much as anything could be made out in the falling darkness, Cassian saw a smile.


End file.
